Band of the Week: Fleet Foxes

“It’s definitely more present,” says Fleet Foxes’ lead singer, Robin Pecknold, about their dazzling new album, Helplessness Blues—the follow-up to their critically acclaimed debut, which, after its release in 2008, ushered in a new era of folkcentric indie music (see also: Mumford & Sons) and is now considered a watershed moment for legions of nu-folk revivalists and college-bound facial-hair enthusiasts. But, continues Pecknold, for their sophomore album the Seattle-based six-piece are veering away from the tender vocals and ethereal whimsy that defined their first effort and that many assumed, were going to become their trademark. “It’s true, these songs have less of the atmospheric harmonies we had on the first album,” he explains. “We definitely wanted it to sound less dreamlike.”

Helplessness Blues certainly shows off Pecknold’s talents as a songwriter: If Fleet Foxes’ first record was a delicately assembled collection of ghostly harmonies and pastoral melodies, their new songs, like “Grown Ocean” and “Bedouin Dress,” are driven by a contrasting, toe-tapping rhythm that evokes the spirit of classic troubadours such as Neil Young, Bob Dylan, and Brian Wilson, and on the whole feel more like Laurel Canyon folk-rock than quirky indie fables. However, if Helplessness Blues has one main achievement, it’s the fact Pecknold accomplishes this without descending into mindless imitation indie rock or sacrificing Fleet Foxes’ coy rustic charm. “We definitely didn’t want the album to sound like we were playing in an airplane hangar on a huge stage,” he continues. “But it’s been fun to take the songs and amp them up, just a little bit.”